Dissertations / Theses: 'Ethics of science'

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Reza, Faisal 1980. "Human cloning : science, ethics, policy, society." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29582.

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Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-74).
The interplay of science, ethics, policy and society contribute to our understanding of and relation with human cloning. Genetic science and technology at the end of the twentieth century has permitted successful cloning of mammals and other animals. Such advancement has raised key ethical issues regarding the prospect of cloning human beings. Evaluation of these issues has led to policies aimed at regulating this novel technology. In tum, these policies strive to prepare our society for the scientific possibilities and ethical implications of human cloning.
by Faisal Reza.
B.S.

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Reeve, Andrew F. "Incommensurability in ethics and in the philosophy of science." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/NQ51221.pdf.

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Buffenbarger, Lauren. "Ethics in Data Science: Implementing a Harm Prevention Framework." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1623166419961692.

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Ozdemir, Ece Ozge. "The Structure Of Scientific Community And Its Relevance To Science Ethics." Master's thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12607218/index.pdf.

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The goal of this thesis is to argue that science is not value free on the grounds of a community based account of ethics. It is the peculiar feature of this model that ethics is a limitation on individual'
s freedom of action, and moral norms of a community reflect the structure of the community. I endeavour to resolve the problem, on an assumption that science is an activity of scientific community, that science ethics can be derived from the internal structure of scientific community. Therefore, this thesis attempts to show the relationship between scientific community and science ethics.

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Bezuidenhout, Louise Martha. "Contextuality in life science ethics : dual-use as a case study." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/12122.

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In the rapidly advancing field of the life sciences, issues relating to responsibility for research are becoming a key area of discussion. Attempting to conceptualise how individual and collective responsibilities may be attributed to scientists for their research is proving both difficult and complex. Issues relating to responsibility for research may be loosely divided into two different areas. Internal responsibilities refer to those that scientists hold to their research and their colleagues to ensure that high quality data is produced with integrity. Broad social responsibilities, in contrast, reflect the social contract that scientists hold with society and refer to the commitment of scientific research to enhance and promote humanity in a manner that takes into consideration social priorities and norms. By far, research on internal responsibilities has formed the bulk of current discussions on responsibility in life science ethics. These responsibilities have come to be represented by the field of research ethics, which focuses on the prevention of misconduct and the promotion of globally harmonised approaches to daily conduct. Research ethics has been widely endorsed, and a high level of international agreement has resulted in country-specific approaches to awareness raising and pedagogy – such as the Responsible Conduct of Research approach developed in the USA – being applicable for use in divergent social contexts. In contrast, however, broad social issues have received comparatively less attention from the life science ethics community. Indeed, these topics often do not have a place in ethics curricula, or form “add-on” topics to ethics modules. This thesis suggests that presenting broad social issues as a progression of research ethics topics may cause considerable difficulties for pedagogy. In particular, this thesis suggests that these problems arise through the promotion of an internationally harmonised approach to research ethics, the focus on avoiding misconduct, and the reliance on informal teaching within laboratories as a fundamental aspect of perpetuating research ethics. This thesis suggests that the crucial issue of contextual variations within ethics discussions is often marginalised. I argue such variations may have considerable implications for how scientists engage with notions of professional responsibility. Such points are particularly salient when noting that many scientists in developing countries are introduced to these topics through Western-centric ethics modules that do not take into account social, regulatory and physical variations in research environments in these countries. In order to critically interrogate contextual variations and social responsibility, the thesis makes use of an interdisciplinary approach, using a variety of methods of investigation. The topic of dual-use – the potential for beneficial research to be misused by third parties for nefarious means – was taken as a focalising example of a broad social issue and formed the basis of comparative investigations with scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. The fieldwork results showed significant variations between how scientists in developing countries and developed countries interacted with the topic of dual-use. It became clear that the Western-centric approach promoted by most current dual-use awareness raising initiatives, and the implicit research ethics teaching approaches in these models, caused considerable difficulties for African scientists attempting to access these discussions. Using the theoretical framework outlined at the beginning of the thesis and the fieldwork, the thesis concludes by proposing a number of changes that could be made to the way that broad social issues are presented to scientists within ethics pedagogy.

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Evans, Joëlle. "Moral frictions : ethics, creativity and social responsibility in stem cell science." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77820.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-250).
Competing moral orders pervade markets and organizations. Previous studies of morals and markets show that organizational and occupational communities in contested areas promote one unique moral perspective in order to gain legitimacy and ensure organizational survival. In this perspective, change and innovation are only possible when distinct actors with a competing moral perspective enter a market. Yet communities do sometimes produce innovations at odds with the moral position they promote. How do they achieve this? Drawing on a 17-months ethnography of a stem cell laboratory, I explore the ways in which competing moral orders intersect in the workplace and how this collision shapes work and innovation practices. I examine two distinct moral conflicts: conflicts over safety and conflicts over bioethics. These two different types of conflicts suggest together that, far from being ethical deserts where workers conform to their organization's perspective, workplaces dealing with contested objects and technologies are spaces of intense ethical questioning and negotiation. Local moral contests are rich with creative opportunities: organizational actors innovate and shape their organizations as they seek to couple the practices and goals of their organization with their avowed personal values. This dissertation contributes to unpacking the links between morals and organizations by showing that moral legitimacy is not just a post-hoc justification of organizational products or practices but is integral to the constitution of these products and practices. This work also contributes to studies of expert work by highlighting the role of moral heterogeneity, local contests, authority over tasks, and technological innovation on the definition of social responsibility in expert communities.
by Joëlle Evans.
Ph.D.

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Mendonca, Junior Jorge Piaia. "The Dream of a Scientific Ethics." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1525440725247599.

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Rogers, Larson. "Ethical and science understandings in school science : a conceptual framework of classroom practices and understandings." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/901.

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The principal contribution of the study is a conceptual account of classroom activities in school science, which incorporates both ethical and conventional science understandings within a single conceptual framework. In order to illustrate and explore the strengths and limitations of the conceptual framework developed, an exploratory case study involving 7 science classes was conducted at 2 schools. The 'classroom practices and understandings' conceptual framework presents a novel approach for understanding activities of students and teachers in the science classroom. According to this framework 'understanding' is a grasp of inferential connections as part of either practical or cognitive types of activity, whereas a 'practice' is a set of activities organized by understandings, rules and characteristic aims, emotions, and projects. On this basis the grounds for a given understanding are described in terms of a unifying structure for both ethical and science understandings. In both cases 'authority in understanding' refers to the specific sources of authority for a given understanding, which may include authoritative individuals in addition to more conventional grounds such as reasons or evidence. Finally, 'richness' of understanding refers to the quality of such connections to sources of authority in understanding, and is thus is a measure of the strength of understanding generally. Classroom lessons developed for the exploratory case study focused on ethical questions of sustainability. These were implemented in the science classroom at two research sites, with the researcher acting as guest teacher. One site focused on study of ecology in grade 11; the other site focused on study of genetics in grade 10. At both sites student interviews were conducted to supplement the findings of the classroom-teaching component. The findings support the integrity of the conceptual framework, while highlighting significant challenges for seeking to make explicit the sources of authority in science students' ethical understandings. Building from the conceptual framework and cases studies, a number of further directions for empirical and theoretical research are suggested.

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Flodin, Frans. "Sustainable ethics in public administration? -Ethical dilemmas in sustainable development policy implementation." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-75551.

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This Master´s thesis analyses ethical dilemmas through a theory of three administrative ethics. These three ethics derives from the aspects of sustainable development. The purpose is to combine modern scholars’ requirements of administrative ethics, ideas of how public officials should work and sustainable development as a high ethical goal. Hence the aim is to design an approach and practical understanding of sustainable ethics within public administration. The research applies an empirical and qualitative method, including three elite interviews and a case study. Ethical dilemmas as an ethical phenomenon is used as an analytic tool the can test a practical use of the theory. The interviews are meant to collect experiences from public officials on ethical dilemmas in relation to sustainable development. One case was studied in debt, namely a dilemma situation in Swedish municipality Enköping, where politicians in the Environmental board actively and repeatedly chose not to follow the Environmental Code. A conclusion from the results is that ethical dilemmas in many cases can be illustrate with the theory of sustainable ethics. Moreover, the results show that the interviewees have a restrictive view of how they can and should work as public servants compared with modern scholars’ arguments of more political working public officials. The title of this research ends with a question mark that intend to challenge the reader with a mindset that sustainable ethics requires more than one specific ethic.

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Low, Marcus. "Wild west science reporting : pitfalls and ethical issues in the reporting of frontier sciences." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49806.

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Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When reporting on new research or claims by scientists, the science journalist faces a number of pitfalls. For a number of reasons the journalist might produce a story which is inaccurate or misleading. Thus, when a scientist claims to have found a cure for cancer, the journalist needs to check himself before delivering the story. In this paper I will examme a number of issues concerning the reporting of frontier science, or new research. In this realm it is particularly difficult to distinguish more reliable science from less reliable science. The problem is compounded by the vested interests of scientists, pharmaceutical companies and other interest groups. What the science journalist writes, influences public opinion, conceptions about science, and often affects people's decision-making regarding medical issues. There is thus a clear ethical aspect to science reporting. I will try to show that an understanding of how science works is crucial to reporting science responsibly. In this regard the distinction between frontier and textbook science is of particular importance. Theoretical distinctions such as these provide useful tools for the interpretation of claims from the frontier. The first chapter, then, will deal with theoretical concepts pertaining to how SCIence works. In the second we will examine a number of examples of how reporting from the frontiers can go wrong. We will argue that a better understanding of science might have prevented many of the inaccuracies and misleading claims examined. In chapter three we will attempt to list what can go wrong, and examine some of the possible consequences, thus outlining the ethical aspect of science reporting. Finally we will make a few suggestions and outline some guidelines which might contribute to more accurate and responsible reporting from the frontiers.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wanneer daar oor nuwe navorsing of aansprake deur wetenskaplikes berig moet word, word die wetenskapsverslaggewer gekonfronteer deur 'n aantal moontlike slaggate. Om verskeie redes kan daar onakkuraat of misleidend verslag gedoen word. Wanneer 'n wetenskaplike dus berig dat daar 'n kuur vir kanker gevind is, moet die joernalis homself eers aan sekere beginsels herinner. In hierdie skrywe sal ek 'n aantal kwessies te doen met die beriggewing van pionierswetenskap, of nuwe wetenskap, ondersoek. Op hierdie terrein is dit veral moeilik om tussen betroubare en minder betroubare wetenskap te onderskei. Die probleem word vererger deur die belange van wetenskaplikes, farmaseutiese maatskappye en ander belangegroepe. Dit wat deur die wetenskapsjoernalis berig word, beïnvloed publieke opinie en beskouings oor die wetenskap, en raak dikwels mense se besluitneming rakende mediese kwessies. Daar is dus 'n duidelike etiese aspek aan wetenskapsverslaggewing verbonde. Ek gaan poog om te wys dat 'n begrippnj van hoe wetenskap werk, onmisbaar is vir verantwoordelike wetenskapsverslaggewing. In hierdie verband is die onderskeid tussen pioniers- en handboekwetenskap van besondere belang. Teoretiese onderskeide soos dié verskaf bruikbare gereedskap VIr die interpretasie van aansprake uit die pionierswetenskap. In die eerste hoofstuk sal 'n aantal teoretiese konsepte oor die werking van wetenskap verduidelik word. In die tweede hoofstuk sal 'n aantal voorbeelde van waar verslaggewing van [N4]pionierswetenskap verkeerd geloop het, bespreek word. Ek gaan argumenteer dat In beter begrippisj van wetenskap moontlik baie van dié onakkuraathede en misleidende aansprake sou kon voorkom het. Hoofstuk drie sal dan poog om te lys wat verkeerd kan gaan, en sal sommige van die moontlike gevolge ondersoek. Hierdeur sal die etiese aspek van wetenskapsverslaggewing dus uitgestippel word. Aan die einde sal ek 'n paar voorstelle maak, en probeer om riglyne uit te stip wat kan bydra tot meer akkurate en verantwoordelike verslaggewing van pionierswetenskap.

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Mancuso, Maureen. "British legislative ethics : the view from Westminster." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.314419.

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Braswell, Michael, Belinda R. McCarthy, and Bernard J. McCarthy. "Justice, Crime, and Ethics." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2014. http://amzn.com/0323262279.

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Justice, Crime, and Ethics, a leading textbook in criminal justice programs, examines ethical dilemmas pertaining to the administration of criminal justice and professional activities in the field. Comprehensive coverage is achieved through focus on law enforcement, legal practice, sentencing, corrections, research, crime control policy, and philosophical issues. The contributions in this book examine ethical dilemmas pertaining to the administration of criminal justice and professional activities in the field.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1069/thumbnail.jpg

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Journeau, Julie. "Le statut épistémologique de l'éthique comme science pratique selon Aristote." Thesis, Lille 3, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013LIL30033.

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Ce travail a pour objet d'interroger le statut épistémologique de l'éthique comme science pratique et d'expliciter l'affirmation d'Aristote selon laquelle l'éthique est une science. Nous abordons cette question en deux temps : le premier est celui d'une confrontation de l'éthique avec les autres savoirs aristotéliciens dans le but de spécifier la catégorie de savoir pratique dégagée en metaph. E. 1, le second est une étude des principales particularités du savoir pratique. Dans le but de déterminer ces différentes particularités, nous revenons sur les obstacles à la scientificité de l'éthique et nous analysons ce que nous considérons être des instruments du savoir pratique : le syllogisme pratique, les endoxa, les portraits et les exemples
In this work, I will question the epistemological status of ethics as practical knowledge and I will explain the Aristotelian affirmation that ethics is a science. I will proceed in two axes : the first one is a confrontation of the ethics to the other knowledges in order to specify the nature of the category of practical knowledge brought out in metaph. E. 1, and the second one is a study of main particularities of practical knowledge. In order to specify those particularities, I will define the impediments to ethics' scientificity and I will analyze what I identified as instruments for the elaboration of a practical knowledge : practical syllogism, endoxa, portraits and examples

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Yildiz, Sema. "Preparatory Ethics University prior to Participatory Technology Assessment (PEUPTA) : A New Approach to Public Engagement in Science and Technology." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-130973.

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This paper provides a new approach to public engagement in science and technology. The work derives from the idea to recall the necessity of a paradigm shift for not only agent-focused, but also agent-centered as well interactive-deliberative engagement mechanisms with low or high policy relevancy. For this purpose, an evaluative synthesis is presented, aimed to offer the modern concept of the Ethics University as a preparatory element prior to the traditional Participatory Technology Assessment. The primary aim of a Preparatory Ethics University, in the form of a seminar with learning stations, would be to supplement and support existing participatory mechanisms. But also it would lay ground for new designs in public engagement processes. This interlinked concept shall increase effectiveness of public engagement and deliberation for decision-making purposes. Being informed about ethical matters in educative and reflective dialogues can be a fruitful pre-step to a well-informed decision during an important Technology Assessment. In this interdisciplinary work, I will first justify why public participation and deliberation was necessary and then present the understanding of public participation in science and technology. Second, I will present relevant public engagement concepts, as previously mentioned, and interlink them to point out combined strengths and benefits from a Preparatory Ethics University. Third, I will open a discussion about the challenges each concept poses, objections that might occur towards a Preparatory Ethics University prior to Participatory Technology Assessment, and the accompanying answers to those. I will conclude that this new approach creates substantive opinions, empowers, educates, and deliberates on complex and controversial issues while increasing reasonable decision-making. Thus, this new approach can be considered as a new type of public engagement in the field of science and technology.

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Seip, Robert. "Complementary and alternative medicine : ethics, legality, and use of the best available science." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2015. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/71691/.

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The purpose of this thesis is to provide a robust epistemological justification for Evidence Based Medicine (EMB), and thereby to demonstrate the epistemological short comings of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). CAM has received support from both philosophers, such as Rorty and Feyerband, and the Sociology and Anthropology of Medicine. The thesis will thus review both the internal coherence and the application of non-realist arguments, and counter non-realism with the realist epistemology and philosophy of science that is represented by C.S. Peirce’s pragmatism. Rorty and Feyerabend and others have developed radical forms of scientific antirealism in the latter 20th century. Subsequently, sociologists developed even more intractable forms of anti-realism, which they applied to the social study of science. This approach served to challenge the legitimacy of orthodox scientific practice (including EMB). A practical expression of this controversy was immediately identified in the question of the role of scientific authority in a democratic society. That question was immediately applied to the status of alternative medical systems and their legitimacy vis-a-vis EBM in terms of the controversy over what has come to be termed "medical pluralism": If scientific medicine has no particular authority, should other, medical systems, epistemically incompatible with EBM, be made available as well? The thesis will suggest that non-realism is in fact a marginal position within the philosophy of science. Scientists, medical researchers and medical practitioners may thus appeal to the philosophy of science in order to justify their authority in the face of challenges from CAM. However, it will be suggested that they are frequently ill-served by a reliance on a simplistic understanding of the philosophy of Karl Popper. An alternative will be proposed in the philosophy of C. S. Peirce. His pragmatism offers to medical research and medical practice a way of understanding and justifying the scientific process, a justification of realism in the face of non-realism, and a resource for the criticism of CAM and medical pluralism, as at once epistemologically ill grounded and potentially dangerous to patients and the general public.

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Ndwandwe, Sipho Cyril. "Teaching and learning of Information ethics in Library and Information Science Departments/Schools in South Africa." Thesis, University of Zululand, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10530/1281.

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A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009.
This study investigated the nature and level of information ethics education in Library and Information Science Departments in South Africa. The study was carried out using both qualitative and quantitative methods through a survey and content analysis. All 12 LIS Departments in South Africa were targeted. Within these departments, the departments’ Heads, lecturers teaching the module, and the course outlines/study guides of information ethics modules formed the target population. Data was collected via questionnaires that were emailed to the Heads of the various LIS Departments, who were also requested to forward a separate set of questionnaires to the lecturers teaching information ethics modules. Departments that offered information ethics modules were also requested to forward the study materials of their modules (i.e. their study guides) for content analysis. Of the twelve LIS Departments, responses were received from only seven. These were departments from the Universities of Zululand, Pretoria, Cape Town, South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, the Western Cape, and the Durban University of Technology. Study guides for content analyses were received from the three LIS Departments that offered information ethics as a full stand-alone module. These were the LIS Departments at the Universities of Zululand, Pretoria and South Africa. The results of the study indicate that in most LIS Departments, information ethics was taught in the content of other modules and not as a stand-alone module. In the LIS Departments that offered a stand-alone information ethics module, the module was only first offered in 2nd year, the rationale being that at this level, students are senior enough to appreciate information ethics. It was also found that the stand-alone information ethics modules were only offered by LIS Departments. Furthermore, only one lecturer from the University of South Africa had a background in both Library and Information Science and Philosophy; the rest of the lecturers in the LIS Departments had backgrounds only in Library and Information Science. The study also found that in terms of the units covered in information ethics modules, there was quite a bit of diversity, with each LIS Department offering its own version of information ethics. However, issues of intellectual property, copyright and privacy were covered across the board. The study acknowledges the ethical dilemmas facing information professionals and recommends that information ethics be made a major component of LIS education and training, in which case it would be offered as a full standalone module.

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Norin, Kajsa. "OM NI INTE STÅR FÖR NÅGOT, VAD INSPIRERAR ER DÅ? : En studie av Socialdemokraterna, Liberalerna och Sverigedemokraternas etiska perspektiv Norin, Kajsa Handledare: Agneta Blom Seminariedatum: 2016." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-52207.

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This essay is about the importance of discussing ethics in political debates. I chose to analyse three of the parliamentary parties in Sweden: Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats), Socialdemokraterna (the Social Democrats) and Liberalerna (the Liberals). I chose to ask the questions:{ Do the three parties’ ethical perspectives correlate to the discussions of one or more of the chosen theories?{ Is one of the theories more common?{ Is there a difference between the parties, if so: what is the differences? By using qualitative classification I studied the party programme and some other documents from each party. I also analysed two parliamentary debates. One was between the leaders of the parties when discussion immigration and the other was about the Panama papers. The ethical theories I chose as a theoretical base were utilitarism, ethics of duty, rights ethics and contractual ethics. In order to get an eassier way of comparing them I also chose four areas of comparison: view on humanity, preferred culture in society, method of governing and hierarchy of values.During the essay I discovered that all three parties had at least part of their ethics in common with each theory. Contractual and rights ethics were the most reoccurring ones for all three. Sverigedemokraterna and Liberalerna had slightly more in common with rights ethics, while Socialdemokraterna had a preference towards contractual ethics.

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Bartlett, Lucinda. "Ethical business : an ethnography of ethics and multiplicity in commercial settings." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:778f42c8-4b9b-493e-9ae5-631f4cdbb3fc.

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This thesis is a study of ethics and multiplicity as found within contemporary commercial settings. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS) sensibilities and ethnographic-style research, the thesis proposes that current ethical phenomena should be understood as a user-enacted chimerical object: an object that is multiple in its ontology and as much enacted by what it is, as what it is not. This research is particularly pertinent now because the term 'ethical' has become commonplace in modern Western life, including crucially within commercial activities. In certain uses, doing ethics becomes synonymous with doing business. Despite the increasing prevalence of what is considered 'ethical business', the exploration of how the term is appropriated and enacted remains largely under-examined. Through examination of research material gathered during extensive ethnographic studies in three self-avowedly 'ethical organisations' - an ethical start-up, an ethical confectionery company, and an ethical consultancy - the thesis addresses this research gap. By focusing on the users of ethical business, the investigation questions traditional market assumptions of homogeneity within producing organisations, the supposed linear transfer of ethical knowledge, what we can know about 'users', and the genesis of novel ethical realities. Through this questioning the thesis provides new insights on the ethical object. The thesis additionally builds upon questions of how far we can push the boundaries of what we can know about knowledge, and whether it is possible to bring the mess of investigation back into the reporting. Developing previous applications of constitutive reflexivity, the research symmetrically investigates the appropriateness of my application of STS sensibilities to ethical business as a new research area, and interrogates my thesis as an ethical object in order to address the underlying question(s) of whether 'STS means ethical business?'

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Turilli, Matteo. "Ethics and the practice of software design." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.711646.

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Burgess, John Timothy Freedom. "Virtue ethics and the narrative identity of American librarianship 1876 to present." Thesis, The University of Alabama, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3596086.

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The purpose of this study is to propose a means of reconciling the competing ideas of library and information science's identity, thereby strengthening professional autonomy. I make the case that developing a system of virtue ethics for librarianship would be an effective way to promote that reconciliation. The first step in developing virtue ethics is uncovering librarianship's function. Standard approaches to virtue ethics rely on classical Greek ideas about the nature of being to determine function. Since classical ideas of being may no longer be persuasive, I introduce another approach to uncover librarianship's function that still meets all of the criteria needed to establish a foundation for a system of virtue ethics. This approach is hermeneutical phenomenology, the philosophical discipline of interpreting the meaning given to historical events. Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic circle technique and Paul Ricoeur's theory of narrative intelligence are used to engage in a dialogue with three crises in the history of American librarianship. These pivotal events are the fiction question, librarian nationalism during World War I, and the dispute between supporters of the "Library Bill of Rights" and social responsibility. From these crises, three recurring themes become apparent: the tendency to reconcile idealism and pragmatism, the intent to do good for individuals and society, and the role of professional insecurity in precipitating the conflicts. Through emplotment of these themes, an identity narrative for librarianship emerges. My finding is that librarianship's function is the promotion of stability-happiness. This is the dual-process of supporting dominant socio-cultural institutions as a means of protecting librarianship's ability to offer the knowledge, cultural records, and avenues for information literacy that can improve lives and facilitate individuals' pursuit of happiness. In the conclusion, the ethical implications of having stability-happiness as the profession's function are considered. It includes a discussion of how librarianship's narrative identity could be applied to develop an ethical character for the profession and how such a character, combined with knowledge of function, might address persistent problems of race and gender disparity in library and information science.

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Shachaf, Pnina. "A Global Perspective on Library Association Codes of Ethics." Elsevier, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/106281.

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This study of 28 countries involves comparative content analysis of the English versions of codes of ethics proposed by professional associations. It yielded an empirically grounded typology of principles arranged in twenty categories. The most frequently identified principles were professional development, integrity, confidentiality or privacy, and free and equal access to information. While confidentiality and privacy, and equal access to information, appear in all existing typologies of library and information science ethics, other principles, such as copyright and intellectual property, democracy, and responsibility toward society, which appear in almost all other typologies, were evident in fewer than half of the codes. This empirical study provides a global perspective on library association code of ethics.

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Lacy, Mark James. "Global responsibility and climate politics : ethics, uncertainty and international relations." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.367784.

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Assefa, B. (Bethelhem). "Motivations behind software piracy:from the viewpoint of computer ethics theories." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2014. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201405241494.

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Computer Ethics is a study of ethical issues that are related mainly with computing machines and computing profession. The features of internet that, it is global and interactive, it allows users to stay anonymous, and it enables reproducibility of information possible unlike before makes the online behavior morally different. Computer ethics studies the nature and social influence of computing machines and ethical issues in formulating and justification of policies. Software Piracy, which is the unauthorized use or copying of software illegally, has become a major problem for businesses and it is widespread in many parts of the world which led to drain of economy. As the access to use computer grows, the percentage for using pirated software also grows. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software Publishers Association (SPA) made estimation (2010) that there are two-ten illegal copies of software are available for every legal copy of software sold. Software piracy is one of the most remarkable among computer ethics’ breaches. Unlike other activities like hacking and security breaches, which are outright illegal, software piracy technically covers a gray area of ethical principles, as they relate to computers and information technology. This is because people might inadvertently commit the act without realizing that they are ethically/morally/legally wrong. When one buys software, it means that they actually are buying the software license but not the software. This is similar to artistic copyrights, where a composer/artist holds the license to his work and gains monetary compensation on a licensing basis. However, the ease with which the software can be copied makes it difficult to exercise licensing rights. One of the ways to counter software piracy is to understand the motivations behind it and create awareness. The purpose of this research is to understand the principles of computing ethics in-depth and use this knowledge to understand what drives average people to commit acts of software piracy. The purpose is to use this information to create awareness among general public regarding software piracy.

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Enyan, B. (Benjamin). "Ethics in using students as subjects in software engineering experiments." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2016. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201612103233.

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The ethical issues that researchers encounter in experiment are usually debated upon. Ethical issues are scrutinized and reported in the law, medicine and psychology areas of study. Independent boards are commonly employed to vet the ethical aspect of experiments in the above mentioned areas of study. However, in the software engineering area of research, it is not entirely like that as researchers just follow the guidelines of their respective institutions. Ethical principles of right and wrong, codes of conducts, codes of rules, and external standards that govern an organization, must be considered and followed during the research. Experiments must be designed on utmost ethical rules and values. These ethical rules must be followed and reported, as researchers conduct their experiments. Ethics in research is inevitable however; its application in software engineering might not be direct. Four fundamental principles of research ethics being informed consent, scientific value, beneficence, and confidentiality are the major pointers of ethical issues in SE experiment. The focus of this thesis was to find out the ethically related issues reported by researchers while they conducted their research on students. This study used a systematic mapping review method, to gather and analyse reported experiments that were conducted with students as subjects, by classifying and identifying ethical issues that are reported in software engineering experiment over the past few years. The studies reviewed were published within the years 2000 and 2016, and from 12 journals and conference proceedings. The search strategy identified 2512 papers, of which 70 were identified as relevant or primary studies. The findings revealed that researchers in SE research pay minimal attention to issues of ethics. No reporting guidelines developed over the years suggesting that researchers are obligated to report issues of ethics. However, one aspect seems to be considered most in the reports; beneficence, where researchers seek to motivate the students to participate in their study. In a nutshell, experiment in SE field of study does not have higher risk on its human subjects as compared to other fields of study. Ethical issues are hardly debated or never mentioned in the SE experiment publication. In the near future, experiment reporting guidelines, must be developed in order to promote or suggest to researcher to give details about ethical issues, especially when it involves human (students) subjects.

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Reardon, Mark. "The ethics of animal advocacy : towards biocentric individualism." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2011. https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/studentthesis/the-ethics-of-animal-advocacy-towards-biocentric-individualism(a913635a-ced0-4029-8820-12106dbff5e2).html.

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The contemporary animal rights movement, in extending moral consideration to nonhuman animals, has in diverse ways already contributed to an expansion of the boundaries of the ethical community and what that may constitute. However, many environmentalists argue there is a failure within animal ethics to adequately address wider animal advocacy concerns, and that consideration of broader ecosystemic challenges elicit at best moot response from mainstream animal rights advocates. In taking an individualistically based biocentric approach, the essential aims of animal ethics can, I argue, be readily embraced into a theory of value that can address this wider remit. In aligning the applicability of a developed form of biocentric individualism with the ethical underpinning of notions of the 'illegitimacy of animal use' extrapolated from normative animal advocacy perspectives, my proposition is that these shortcomings can be ameliorated and that such an alignment forms a complimentary and useful fusion. Biocentrism as a value theory asks for moral considerability to be centred upon a respect for individual nonhuman (and human) life and the possession/continuation of a flourishing individual life - neither of which, I contend, is at odds with the essential spirit of animal ethics. In this sense, I submit that a developed biocentric individualism 'bridges the gap' between animal ethics and environmental ethics.

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Coca, Annabel. "Embodied Ethics: Difference, Politics, and the Dissolution of Good and Evil." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1290201241.

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Holman, Bennett Harvey. "The fundamental antagonism| science and commerce in medical epistemology." Thesis, University of California, Irvine, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3727347.

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I consider the claims made by medical ethicists that funding by pharmaceutical companies threaten the integrity of medical research and the claims of philosophers of science that evidence-based medicine can provide a sound epistemic foundation on which to base medical treatment decisions. Drawing on both game theory and medical history, I argue that both medical ethicists and philosophers of science have missed crucial aspects of medical research. I show that both veritistic and commercial aims are enduring and entrenched aspects of medical research. Because these two drives are perpetually pulling medical research in different directions, I identify the resultant conflict as the fundamental antagonism

The primary task of the dissertation is to provide a framework that incorporates both drivers of medical research. Specifically, I argue that medical research is best conceived of as an asymmetric arms race. Such a dynamic is typified by a series of moves and countermoves between competing parties who are adjusting to one another's behavior, in this case between those who seek to make medical practice more responsive to good evidence and those whose primary motivations are instead commercial in character.

Such a model presents three challenges to standard evidential hierarchies which equate epistemic reliability with methodological rigor. The first is to show that reliability and rigor can (and do) come apart as a result of the countermeasures employed by manufactures. This fact suggests that in considering policy proposals to improve epistemic reliability, it is robustness (i.e. resistance to manipulation) that should be the crucial desideratum. The second consequence is a reorientation of medical epistemology. One of the primary strategies that manufacturers have employed is to manipulate the dissemination of information. A focus on an isolated knower obscures the impact that industry has in shaping what information is available. To address these problems medical knowledge must be understood from a social epistemological framework. Finally, and most importantly, the arms race account suggests that the goal of identifying the perfect experimental design or inference pattern is chimerical. There is no final resolution to the fundamental antagonism between commercial and scientific forces. There is only a next move.

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Ekhäll, Susanne. "Ethical awareness in some Swedish IT-companies." Thesis, University of Skövde, School of Humanities and Informatics, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-985.

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Ethical considerations have become more important in our environment, since all humans are moral agents and we can not avoid the involvement of ethical issues in every activity that we take part in. Ethical issues are vital, and it seems that it has become a burning question. This study presents the results of a survey of how Chief Executive Officers (CEO) in five IT-companies considers and work with attitudes toward ethical issues. The survey indicated that ethics in IT-companies has much to do with relations, relations between employees, relations between company and customer, and the importance of creating long-term relationships with customers. The survey also indicated the individual view of ethics. Finally, suggestions for further examination in this area are made.

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Dodig-Crnkovic, Gordana. "Investigations into Information Semantics and Ethics of Computing." Doctoral thesis, Västerås : Mälardalen University, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-153.

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Reyes-Illg, Gwendolen. "Respect for Patient Autonomy in Veterinary Medicine| A Relational Approach." Thesis, Colorado State University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10640397.

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This thesis considers the prospects for including respect for patient autonomy as a value in veterinary medical ethics. Chapter One considers why philosophers have traditionally denied autonomy to animals and why this is problematic; I also present contemporary accounts of animal ethics that recognize animals’ capacity for and exercise of autonomy (or something similar, such as agency) as morally important. In Chapter Two, I review veterinary medical ethics today, finding that respect for patient autonomy is undiscussed or rejected outright as irrelevant. Extrapolating mainstream medical ethics’ account of autonomy to veterinary medicine upholds this conclusion, as it would count all patients as “never-competent” and consider determining their autonomous choices impossible; thus welfare alone would be relevant. Chapter Three begins, in Part I, by describing the ways we routinely override patient autonomy in veterinary practice, both in terms of which interventions are selected and how care is delivered. I also show that some trends in the field suggest a nascent, implicit respect for patient autonomy. Part II of Chapter Three presents feminist criticisms of the mainstream approach to patient autonomy. I argue that the relational approach to autonomy advocated by such critics can be meaningfully applied in the veterinary realm. I advance an approach that conceives respect for patient autonomy in diachronic and dialogic terms, taking the patient as the foremost locus of respect. In Chapter Four, I turn to issues of practical implementation, such as interpreting what constitutes an animal’s values and concerns, and assessing the effect of positive reinforcement training on autonomy. The Conclusion offers areas for future research while refuting the objection that a simpler, expanded welfare-based approach would yield the same substantive recommendations as my account.

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Brimmer, Esther Diane. "Towards a liberal theory of international ethics : an evaluation of four approaches." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.303494.

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Gillespie, Al. "International environmental ethics : value and method in international environmental law and policy." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.361026.

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Furman, Katherine. "AIDS denialism in South Africa : a case study in the rationality and ethics of science policy." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3443/.

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From 28 October 1999 to 26 September 2000 Mbeki publically endorsed the position of ‘denialist’ AIDS scientists – a marginal group who oppose the claim that HIV causes AIDS – and used their views as the basis for a policy of not providing ARVs (antiretrovirals – the treatment that prevents HIV from replicating) via the public health system. This policy persisted until 2004, with severe consequences – best estimates indicate that it resulted in 171,000 avoidable new infections and 343,000 deaths over the 1999 – 2002 period. I use this case to address two questions. First, is it reasonable for policy makers to consult non-mainstream scientists in the process of policy development? Second, can they be held personally morally responsible for the consequences of having done so when things go very badly wrong? I begin by providing a motivation for why philosophers should be interested in real-world cases. Having justified the philosophical “methodology” of this thesis, I move on to describing the specific case of South African AIDS denialism in the early 2000s. I then take a chronological step back in order to assess the rationality of accepting HIV as the sole cause of AIDS in 1984, when the virus was first identified. I argue that it was rational, but that some explanatory power was lost when other competing accounts of the disease’s aetiology were discarded. I argue that this explanatory loss can be accounted for by re-considering the way causation is understood in biomedicine and epidemiology. Having settled the scientific issues of the case, I then move on to the question of moral responsibility. I specifically look at when an agent can be held morally responsible for their ignorance, and the role of suppressed disagreement in the production of that ignorance.

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Gray, John Max. "Virtue Ethics: Examining Influences on the Ethical Commitment of Information System Workers in Trusted Positions." NSUWorks, 2015. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/364.

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Despite an abundance of research on the problem of insider threats, only limited success has been achieved in preventing trusted insiders from committing security violations. Virtue ethics may be an approach that can be utilized to address this issue. Human factors such as moral considerations impact Information System (IS) design, use, and security; consequently they affect the security posture and culture of an organization. Virtue ethics based concepts have the potential to influence and align the moral values and behavior of information systems workers with those of an organization in order to provide increased protection of IS assets. An individual’s character strengths have been linked to positive personal development, but there has been very little research into how the positive characteristics of virtue ethics, exhibited through the character development of information systems workers, can contribute to improving system security. This research aimed to address this gap by examining factors that affect and shape the ethical perspectives of individuals entrusted with privileged access to information. This study builds upon prior research and theoretical frameworks on institutionalizing ethics into organizations and Information Ethics to propose a new theoretical model which demonstrates the influences on Information Systems Security (ISS) trusted worker ethical behavior within an organization. Components of the research model include ISS virtue ethics based constructs, organizational based internal influences, societal based external influences, and trusted worker ethical behavior. This study used data collected from 395 professionals in an ISS organization to empirically assess the model. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was employed to analyze the indicators, constructs, and path relationships. Various statistical tests determined validity and reliability, with mixed but adequate results. All of the relationships between constructs were positive, although some were stronger and more significant. The expectation of the researcher in this study was to better understand the character of individuals who pose an insider threat by validating the proposed model, thereby providing a conceptual analysis of the character traits which influence the ethical behavior of trusted workers and ultimately information system security.

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Elliott, Troy. "On the Morality of The Religious Freedom Restoration Act : Ethics in a Failing Democracy." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-138797.

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The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its subsequent backlash serve as a case-study to raise ethical concerns both about the characterization of contemporary western liberal democracy as a political theory and a prevailing religious extremism acting as a legislative power within governments; Developing and reflecting on these issues this study will attempt to show a need to evaluate the moral principles attributed to modern political systems and the governmental delineation of power over individuals within a society. Applying Rawlsian concepts, this study will show that laws such as the RFRA are representative of weak and superficial democracies that in most cases are actually centres of power, funded by corporations and organisations in direct conflict with liberal principles.

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Fait, Stefano. "The true, the good, and the beautiful : the dark side of humanist science : a study in the anthropology of science and social history." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14915.

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How do we systematise our knowledge without undermining mores and beliefs that have thus far guided our conduct? How do we account for free will in a cosmos made of molecules and universal laws? Is a metaphysical rebellion against the absurdity of a universe devoid of ethical significance unavoidable? Is this rebellion inevitably leading to the organization of the world in exclusively human terms? These are the problems that have been tackled among others by Dostoevskij, Kafka, Dickens, and Camus, thinkers who framed questions of paramount importance without finding persuasive answers (Davison 1997; Dodd 1992; Lary 1973). These are the same problems that many bio-scientists have grappled with in the past and I analyze the solutions they have identified. This work of mine could be seen as a follow-up to the qualitative survey carried out by Kerr, Cunningham-Burley, and Amos in 1998 among British scientists and clinicians with a well-established reputation. That investigation looked into the way the latter distance themselves from the dark shadow of eugenics and revealed that die equation of old eugenics and new genetics is deemed irrational because; scientific knowledge has grown by leaps and bounds ever since o the socio-political circumstances are radically different as coercion is unthinkable and the final decision rests with the individual who is protected by the principle of informed choice; o the aims of eugenics simply cannot be technically met; o the new genetics involves therapeutic aims as opposed to eugenics that concentrated on the alteration of the human gene pool; o the application of science is not necessarily one of scientists' main concerns; My contention is that these objections are too facile and unpersuasive. I submit that there is an obvious connection between how the existential and humanistic side of science failed to prove humanitarian, namely benevolent, compassionate and ultimately useful - the good -, the effort by several academicians to ground ethics on scientific evidence - the true -, And our incapacity to confront abnormality - the beautiful. This connection is eugenics. Eugenics is the scientific response to modern existential angst and social predicaments and is here to stay.

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Suleman, Mehrunisha. "Does Islam influence biomedical research ethics? : a review of the literature and guidelines, and an empirical qualitative study of stakeholder perceptions and ethical analysis." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3369e994-d40f-40ac-b752-dfd205a164b6.

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Islam, its texts and lived practice, finds growing importance within the global discourse on bioethics, as there is an increasing Muslim population and burgeoning interest in biomedical research and biotechnologies in the Muslim world. The aim of this thesis is to assess if and how Islam influences the ethical decision making of researchers, REC (researcher ethics committee) members, guideline developers and Islamic scholars in the biomedical research context. I began addressing this question by first reviewing the literature that has been published to explore the role that Islam plays in the literature on biomedical research ethics. There is evidence that some Muslim countries have developed "Islamic" guidelines. That is, guidelines with the explicit aim of setting out Islamic values and stating their relevance to the ethics of research. A review of research guidelines employed within countries with a significant Muslim population, was carried out, to investigate the role of Islam in such guidelines. The literature and guideline review revealed that although international guidelines have been adapted to incorporate Islamic views, studies have shown that the latter are of limited practical application within a "Muslim country" setting. An empirical study was carried out in two case study sites to assess the extent to which Islam influences ethical decision making within the context of biomedical research. 56 semi-structured interviews were carried out in Malaysia (38) and Iran (18) with researchers, REC members, guideline developers and Islamic scholars to understand whether Islam influences what they consider to be an ethico-legal problem, and if the latter emerges, then how such issues are addressed. The empirical study indicates five main conclusions. The first is that Islam and its institutional forms do impact ethical decision making in the day-to-day practice of biomedical research in countries with a Muslim population and/or in the research careers of Muslim researchers. Secondly, it shows that there are many distinctive mechanisms, such as the involvement of Islamic scholars, the process of ijtihad (independent reasoning) and the production of fatawah (legal edicts), by which Islam does identify and develop ethical views about biomedical matters. Thirdly, HIV/AIDS poses major challenges to the world of Islam as it does the rest of world. The epidemic raises issues that touch on cultural sensitivities that are important to Islamic societies and this study has shown that no simple or single response was observed to the ethical issues arising from HIV/AIDS. Fourthly, researchers face practical challenges when deliberating women's autonomy in contexts where Islam is appropriated within 'male dominated' contexts. The role and status of women is disputed in such contexts with views ranging from women needing their husband's permission to leave the home to men and women having equal freedoms. Finally, this study describes and analyses how the personal faith of researchers and their deep commitment to Islamic ethics and law influences their understanding of their legal and moral accountability and ethico-legal decision making. It shows that researchers adopt multiple roles and are required to balance numerous value systems and priorities and face moral anxiety and frustration when these different moral sources are in conflict. Overall, this study indicates that, in the countries studied, Islam does influence biomedical research ethics, and that this can be appreciated through the growing reference to Islam and its scriptural sources in biomedical research ethics literature, research ethics guidelines and the role of Islam in the day-to-day practice of biomedical researchers in the case study sites, that has been captured in the empirical study.

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Houdek, Petr. "Essays on Economics and Management: Applications of Behavioral Science in Organizations." Doctoral thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2014. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-262137.

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The thesis consists of four conceptual articles focused on application of theories and findings of behavioral economics and behavioral ethics in the sphere of managerial science (What Comes to a Manager's Mind: Theory of Local Thinking; A Perspective on Consumers 3.0: They Are Not Better Decision-Makers Than Previous Generations; Professional Identity and Dishonest Behavior; Puppet Master: Possible Influence of Parasite Toxoplasma gondii on Managers and Employees). The thesis contains introductory unifying commentary that deals with the replication crisis in management science and then speculates on the possibilities of behavioral organization economics. Introductory commentary contains also a summary of the main ideas presented in the conceptual articles and complementary empirical studies listed in the Appendix.

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Magnusson, Erik. "Procreative justice : the ethics of creating and raising children." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2790b757-6eba-453e-973b-86885eefc32e.

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Despite its immense personal significance, procreation is an inherently other-regarding endeavor. By its very nature, the decision to procreate is the decision to bring into existence another morally considerable being, one who will be exposed to the full range of harms, benefits, and risks that accompany a typical human life, and one who cannot by its nature ever consent to being born. Moreover, when this decision is undertaken in a community of persons, it is also a decision to affect the lives of others in a host of profound (if often underappreciated) ways, from its effects on population size and environmental sustainability, to its consequences for a community's distribution of resources. In many cases, of course, these interests coincide: adults need children for their parenting projects, societies need citizens for the maintenance of their institutions, and children themselves are often happy to have been brought into existence. However, as a burgeoning literature is beginning to demonstrate, the various interests that are implicated by procreative decision-making can also come into conflict as well, and in ways that raise basic questions of justice. This thesis explores five of these questions, and in so doing, seeks to contribute to our understanding of the normative significance of procreation. Chapter One considers the relationship between procreation and child welfare, asking what role (if any) prospective children's interests play in limiting the scope of the right to procreate. Chapters Two and Three consider the relationship between procreation and parenthood, asking whether the act of creating a child generates special rights and/or obligations to parent that child. Chapter Four considers how the significant costs of procreation and parenting ought to be distributed through society, asking whether parents are responsible for paying the full cost of their childrearing projects, or whether childrearing costs should be shared in some way among parents and non-parents alike. Finally, Chapter Five considers our moral obligations to orphaned children, asking whether it is permissible to create new children in conditions where there are already existing children in need of parental care. While numerous positions are defended on each of these interrelated questions, one general conclusion runs through all of them: rather than being viewed as something that is immune from moral scrutiny, or as something that individuals have an unqualified right to do, procreation ought to be viewed as the site of potentially conflicting interests that must be carefully balanced against one another.

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Rosenson, Beth. "Legislative ethics regulation in the American states : explaining conflict of interest legislation, 1954-1996." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8855.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-334).
This dissertation examines the regulation of conflicts of interest involving state legislators through the passage of ethics laws during the period from 1954-1996. The aim is to explain why legislators, who are notoriously loathe to regulate their own ethics, enacted a range of ethics laws during this time. I use a mixture of qualitative case studies and regression analysis at the individual and state levels, in order to explain the factors that lead legislators to oppose ethics reforms and the circumstances which facilitated refine success. Three main factors account for legislators' positions on ethics proposals: economic self-interest, institutional power, and ideology. Despite these reasons for opposing regulation, legislators agreed to enact ethics laws under certain conditions. Scandals and media attention to the problem of legislative ethics, as well as the efforts of governors and public interest groups, helped facilitate reform. In addition, the initiative process was a powerful weapon used by reform advocates, both for the enactment of new laws and the authorities of independent ethics commissions. While these outside actors and institutions played a critical role in explaining the likelihood and extent of reform, institutional features within the legislature itself also shaped the outcome of reform efforts. Although many states enacted relatively comprehensive ethics laws, these laws contained important concessions made to legislators in the course of bargaining with governors and public interest groups. Further, when it came to enforcement of the new laws, legislators have maintained close control over the new commissions, using methods such as appointment of commissioners, budgetary control, and legal challenges. Consequently, few state ethics commissions with jurisdiction over legislators have sufficient power and independence to carry out their mandate. Overall, the new legislative ethics laws and their enforcement are consistent with a picture of legislators as rational actors concerned with maintaining their economic wellbeing and institutional power, as well as legislative autonomy and power with regard to the executive branch.
by Beth Anne Rosenson.
Ph.D.

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Lin, Emily Xi. "Caring for star-children : autism, families, and ethics in contemporary China." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122493.

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Thesis: Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2016
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-228).
Caring for Star-Children: Autism, Families, and Ethics in Contemporary China studies the emergence and development of family caregiving for autistic children after 1982, when autism was first diagnosed separately in two cities in China. Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork at municipal specialist hospitals, community child-health clinics, autism rehabilitation centers, and homes of families with autistic children across six provinces, this study explores how social stratification and the turn towards self-governance not only made autism as an epistemic object, but has intersected with that category to create new forms of inequality. In the absence of thorough and consistent state initiatives, moral economies around the child's potential have sprung up.
Such moral economies lead actors such as medical professionals, philanthropic and educational organizations, and elite parent-activists to prioritize the young autistic child's potential, and to urge parents to become behavioral therapists for their own children. Parents are urged to let go of the normative societal expectation of recompense in the form of elderly care. I argue in this dissertation that the directives around these moral economies fail to take into account the local and gendered inequities that both produce, and constrain, parental diagnostic and therapeutic choices for their autistic children. Autism's spread as a diagnostic category has paralleled other spatial and economic disparities across the country.
The economic reforms which began in 1978 and the devolution of many public functions to the purview of local governments have led to dramatic regional disparities with respect to economic opportunity and, the availability and quality of healthcare, education and social services. Where professional and parental elites in cities such as Beijing refer to autistic children through the valorized term "children of the stars" (a phrase chosen so as to reduce stigma), and are able to provide children in these locations with prompt diagnoses and early therapy, to date many healthcare workers and families responsible for nurturing children in less developed regions of China have not even heard of such a diagnostic category. Many families from rural or otherwise resource-scarce locations in China are not able to obtain a timely diagnosis, much less access therapy for their children.
In managing care in landscapes of great disparity, families are turned into diagnostic and therapeutic internal migrants, as they travel across China in search of the appropriate doctors and therapy. I argue in this thesis that the post-socialist emphasis on choice, rather than care, in fact serves to legitimize neglect of the autistic adult and mother of the child. Autism advocacy rights which fail to take into account local forms of stratification thus serve to broaden the burden of care upon families.
by Emily Xi Lin.
Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS)
Ph.D.inHistory,Anthropology,andScience,TechnologyandSociety(HASTS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society

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Terry, Jillian. "Towards a feminist ethics of war : rethinking moral justifications for contemporary warfare." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3375/.

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This thesis begins by arguing that dominant ethical approaches to the study of war in International Relations have failed to illuminate the moral and ethical complexities present in contemporary war practices such as drone warfare, private military contracting, and counterinsurgency. Such approaches are unable to account for the changing nature of war and resultant shifts in the ethical landscape of modern conflict. In particular, there has been a tendency amongst mainstream perspectives on the ethics of war (including here just war theory as well as traditions based in conceptions of rights and justice) to continue to view contemporary political violence in an abstract and individuated sense, whereby subjectivity and agency are constituted in isolation from other actors. This viewpoint obscures a central realm of ethical activity in war: the relational and experiential aspects of modern warfare where moral knowledge and understanding are constituted in relation to the needs of others, through a sense of responsibility, awareness, and connectedness with those around us. As an alternative to these existing approaches, this thesis engages in a redescription of feminist ethics premised on the notion of care. The theoretical framework constructed therein articulates a feminist care ethical vision based in four key areas: relationality, experience, empathy, and responsibility. These points assert the need for a relational ontology; recognize the importance of lived reality and experience; demonstrate a commitment to responsiveness and connectedness to others; and acknowledge a responsibility to the needs of particular others as central to morality. Using this framework, the remainder of the thesis explores the ethical nature of drone warfare, private military contracting, and counterinsurgency to demonstrate the usefulness of such a feminist ethical lens to our understandings of morality in post-9/11 conflict. In so doing, the framework exposes the complex web of relationships and experiences that are at work in the ethical decision-making processes of those who participate in and are impacted by war. It uncovers a new articulation of how ethics plays out in international conflict – one that acknowledges our constant interactions as social beings in the world, which continuously shape and reshape moral action.

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Morrison, Kristine, and res cand@acu edu au. "Virtuous Nursing: More caring than science and more scientific than care." Australian Catholic University. School of Arts, 2004. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp69.25092005.

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Western nursing has been deeply influenced by Christianity and more latterly by the Nightingale ideal of the good nurse. Both views have, as their foundation, the belief that there is an objectively knowable good way to live. This belief presents problems to the modern nurse and has, in large part, been rejected. However, the rejection of this objective moral foundation for nursing has resulted in a crisis of confidence about the best way to articulate what it is to be a good nurse. Two new ways have emerged in recent times. A scientific approach to nursing has elevated the work of nursing to increasingly complex levels and resulted in significantly improved health outcomes for patients. This scientific approach to nursing has manifested itself in two ways. It has resulted in the development of theories of nursing based on psychological concepts. Parallel to this approach has been the tendency for nursing itself to become increasingly scientific and nurses in turn to be technologists. It was thought that nursing that was increasingly shaped in scientific terms would achieve professional status because it presented a scientifically verifiable knowledge base. At the same time, however, it has resulted in an understanding of what counts as being a good nurse being reduced to the nurse’s ability to perform tasks to a high level of clinical precision. Alternatively, nursing as a care-based activity has made a caring attitude the moral centre point of nursing. On this view objective standards of practice are regarded as secondary to the emotional care that the nurse brings to the patient. This belief arose in part because notions of the objectivity of science were challenged as ideological rather than the dispassionate form of knowledge that scientists claimed. It was fostered by the emergence and dominance of phenomenology and the influence of the feminist care ethic. There was also some anxiety about what had been lost in nursing by the embrace of science. In addition, the care ethic seemed to promise the possibility of defining nursing in its own terms in order to make nursing a distinct professional body. However, the demands of an ethic of care have proven elusive and, in the minds of some, unattainable. Given these criticisms of both these ways of thinking about nursing it is proposed that nursing think of itself as a virtues-based activity. Virtues theory incorporates within it the strengths of the two formerly mentioned ways of describing nursing without being subject to the limitations of each. Virtues such as love friendliness, compassion , courage and conscientiousness and the intellectual virtue of prudence or practical wisdom enable nurses to realise that goal in their practice. In this thesis virtue theory will be analysed and applied to nursing in the following way. Some Aristotelian concepts will be identified and their application t professional ethics by contemporary virtue theorists will be discussed. This involves and explication of some virtues that enhance shared conceptions of the practice of nursing. The significance of the good nurse in the shaping of good nursing practice will be considered alongside a reflection on the place of moral luck in nursing practice. It is argued that when nurses think of themselves as participating in a tradition of health care they find meaning in their work, Finally an understanding of nursing as a virtue-based activity clarifies good practice in such a way that nurses are able to elicit from it the qualities needed for its good practice.

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44

Pascarella, John Antonio. "Friendship, Politics, and the Good in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc801900/.

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In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Books VIII and IX provide A philosophic examination of friendship. While these Books initially appear to be non sequiturs in the inquiry, a closer examination of the questions raised by the preceding Books and consideration of the discussion of friendship's position between two accounts of pleasure in Books VII and X indicate friendship's central role in the Ethics. In friendship, Aristotle finds a uniquely human capacity that helps readers understand the good is distinct from pleasure by leading them to think seriously about what they can hold in common with their friends throughout their lives without changing who they are. What emerges from Aristotle's account of friendship is a nuanced portrait of human nature that recognizes the authoritative place of the intellect in human beings and how its ability to think about an end and hold its thinking in relation to that end depends upon whether it orders or is ordered by pleasures and pains. Aristotle lays the groundwork for this conclusion throughout the Ethics by gradually disclosing pleasures and pains are not caused solely by things we feel through the senses, but by reasoned arguments and ideas as well. Through this insight, we can begin to understand how Aristotle's Ethics is a work of political philosophy; to fully appreciate the significance of his approach, however, we must contrast his work with that of Thomas Hobbes, his harshest Modern critic. Unlike Aristotle, Hobbes is nearly silent on friendship in his political philosophy, and examining his political works especially Leviathan reveals the absence of friendship is part of his deliberate attempt to advance a politics founded on the moral teaching that pleasure is the good. Aristotle's political philosophy, by way of contrast, aims to preserve the good, and through friendship, he not only disentangles the good from pleasure, but shows a level of human community more suitable for preserving the good than political regimes because these communities have more natural bonds than any regime can hope to create between its citizens.

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Kuhlau, Frida. "Responsible Conduct in Dual Use Research : Towards an Ethic of Deliberation in the Life Sciences." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Centrum för forsknings- och bioetik, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-193050.

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Life scientists have increasingly been asked to incorporate a dual use responsibility in their research conduct. In this thesis, different aspects of what constitutes a reasonable responsibility in terms of avoiding harmful misuse of research for biological weapon purposes have been explored. The first study investigated the claim that scientists have a dual use responsibility, and also outlined some of its possible content. Criteria for what may constitute preventable harm were used to analyze some proposed obligations in the field, and it was concluded that reasonable obligations include: e.g. considering the potential negative implications of one’s research and reporting activities of concern. In the second study, the conditions for a Precautionary Principle (PP) were explored and applied to the dual use research context. The study found that the main conditions of the PP frequently appear in present discussions and formulations of life scientists’ responsibility. It was also concluded that the PP is applicable to the dual use field and that it is meaningful and useful as a normatively guiding principle. The third study suggested an ethics of dissemination, based on the assumption that scientists have a responsibility to occasionally constrain the dispersion of their research findings. Three core aspects were proposed for an ethics of dual use dissemination. Additionally, to help scientists understand when constraints may be justified, three corresponding conditions for their application were suggested. In the fourth study, the concept of ethical competence was introduced and explored within a dual use context. It was concluded that competence-building is important in the nurturing of individual responsibility and, subsequently, in achieving a culture of dual use responsibility in the life sciences. Finally, the discussion on ethical competence was included in a proposed ethic of deliberation, in which various stakeholders in the dual use debate are conceived to participate in communicative processes. It was argued that spaces for deliberative activities should be institutionalized by the scientific community to ensure structural opportunities for individuals to both assume responsibility and share it. Moreover, it was argued that deliberation can constitute a cornerstone of responsible dual use governance.

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46

Smith, Cynthia Anne Miller. "Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A canticle for Leibowitz a study of apocalyptic cycles, religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, and myth and preternatural innocence /." unrestricted, 2006. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04272006-144149/.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.
Title from title screen. Reiner Smolinski, committee chair; Victor A. Kramer, Christopher Kocela, committee members. Electronic text (79 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 9, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79).

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Jasmin, Jean-Christophe. "Communication et Éthique chez Kierkegaard." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28708.

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48

Cohen, Jared L. "The Ethical Application of Force-Feeding| A Closer Look at Medical Policy Involving the Treatment of Hunger-Striking POWs and Detainees." Thesis, Temple University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10111362.

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Hunger strikes are used as a method of protest to call attention to grievances or political positions and galvanize support for a cause. Historical examples from pre-Christian Europe through Guantanamo Bay have demonstrated various motives, interventions, and outcomes to this unique form of protest. Starvation causes life-threatening damage to the body, and to intervene on an unwilling subject involves invasive medical procedures. As scholars have debated how to approach this medical-ethical dilemma, a tug-of-war exists between autonomy, beneficence, and social justice with regard to the rights of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees. International documents, legislation, and case law demonstrate vast support for and place precedence on the prisoners right to make their own autonomous, informed medical decisions, and many in the international community lean towards abstaining from intervention on hunger strikes on the basis of patient autonomy. However, there are notable arguments both for and against force-feeding that have been well documented. Despite the vast international dialogue, there is a key component that seems to have been forgotten—the environment within which the prisoner or detainee resides is immersed with coercive and manipulative activity and interrogation on a regular basis. This environment may impede the ability for the POW or detainee to make an autonomous decision and then leads to the refusal of life-saving, medical intervention on the basis of a decision that is markedly coerced or manipulated. It is therefore noted that a different lens must be used to analyze hunger strike situations for this specific population.

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Medina, Arellano Maria de Jesus. "The quest for stem cell science regulation in Mexico : ethical, legal and religious controversies." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2012. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-quest-for-stem-cell-science-regulation-in-mexico-ethical-legal-and-religious-controversies(d70b5cff-eb86-4a5e-b8c0-2b20c5954f59).html.

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Many countries in Latin America, for cultural, religious and regulatory reasons, have struggled and failed to appear as competent players in the global bio-economy of emerging technologies in the biosciences field. This investigation takes Mexico as a country case study to map out the factors hampering the development of the governance of emergent biomedical biotechnologies in this context, particularly that applied to stem cell science. This research aims to contextualise and portray prevailing ethical, legal, political and religious concerns regarding stem cell research in this context. Exploring the debates in these arenas, it seeks to elucidate the perceptions of key stakeholders and to appraise critically the divergences and convergences among the actors who currently shape the debate and who may have significant influence on the creation of any legislative framework in the area. It explores whether it is feasible to draw on the approach taken to stem cell science and tissue regulation in the United Kingdom, in order to illuminate the way forward for governing stem cell research and its clinical applications in Mexico. It also aims to evaluate the risks posed by the persistent lack of regulation in this scientific field, since Mexico appears to be an ideal destination for stem cell tourism among Latin American countries. Drawing on empirical data gathered from prominent Mexican stakeholders in the stem cell issue, this research elucidates the key themes influencing the debate which need to be addressed in detail in order to prepare the ground for the effective governance of stem cell science and its clinical applications. By detailing the emergent themes and providing reflexive explanations of the elements influencing the views of all the actors in this arena, this thesis aims to provide ethical, empirical and normative proposals to be translated by policymakers into purposive regulation of biomedical innovations. Thus, it delineates two main features of the debate over stem cell science regulation in Mexico and shows the urgent need to create a legal framework to deal with problematic situations provoked by the legal vacuum in this area: a) the legal inertia preponderant in the Federal Congress, which is mainly caused by the constant lobbying of politicians by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to endorse prohibitive policies in sensitive areas, such as sexual matters, reproduction and stem cell science; b) the increasing phenomenon of stem cell tourism in the country, requiring the adoption of ethical and legal measures to avoid potential physical and financial harm to desperate patients who seek stem cell treatments.In conclusion, I argue that it is plausible to advance a permissive model of governance for the area of stem cell science. This thesis is supported by the evidence gathered from stakeholders’ opinions, added to the data emanating from the analysis of the country case study. As a result, it is possible to propose as an initial strategy the adoption of significant regulatory features of the paradigmatic system of governance which applies in the United Kingdom. The law is up to date as of 19 June 2012.

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Smith, Cynthia M. "Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz: A Study of Apocalyptic Cycles, Religion and Science, Religious Ethics and Secular Ethics, Sin and Redemption, and Myth and Preternatural Innocence." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2006. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/english_theses/10.

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Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a timeless story about apocalyptic cycles, conflicts and similarities between religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, myth and preternatural innocence. Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific knowledge from the time before nuclear war which devastated the world and reduced humanity to a pre-technological civilization. The Catholic Church and this monastery are portrayed as a bastion of civilization amidst barbarians and a light of faith amidst atheism. Unfortunately, humanity destroys the Earth once again, but Miller ends with two beacons of hope: a starship headed for the unknown to help humanity begin again and the preternaturally innocent Rachel who portends a future for similarly innocent human beings repopulating the Earth. Thus, faith ultimately triumphs over atheism even in the midst of almost total catastrophe.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Ethics of science'

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